The present disclosure generally relates to the operation of a document production environment. More specifically, the present disclosure relates to methods and systems for enabling accurate reproduction of spot colors in a print job.
Document production environments, such as print shops, convert printing orders, such as print jobs, into finished printed material. A print shop may process print jobs using resources such as printers, cutters, collators and other similar equipment. Typically, resources in print shops are organized such that when a print job arrives from a customer at a particular print shop, the print job can be processed by performing one or more production functions.
Customers increasingly request print jobs requiring the production of materials printed in color. In some cases, customers require one or more images in the print job to be produced using precise colors (referred to as “spot colors”). For example, a company logo or other trademark might utilize a specific known color that is representative of the company's brand. If a print shop operator is unable to accurately produce a spot color, the printed materials would likely have to be discarded for some or all of the print job. As a result, print jobs having inaccurately produced spot colors or that otherwise have poor image quality can result in increased cost to the print shop operator due to the utilization of extra paper, ink and the like to reproduce the print job. Moreover, the customer might not receive printed materials for the particular print job that have an acceptable image quality within a required time frame.
Digital printing systems typically do not directly print spot colors, but instead utilize a plurality of colors mixed in different proportions to produce the colors. Conventionally, print operations printing a full range of colors have been performed using printing materials having four colors that use three primary ink colors—cyan, magenta, and yellow—plus black (abbreviated as CMYK). More recently, printing materials having five or more colors (“high fidelity”) have been introduced to provide a larger and more vibrant color gamut. An exemplary set of high fidelity printing materials is Pantone's Hexachrome system, which adds orange and green to the traditional CMYK. Unlike 4 color printing, high fidelity printing does not have a set of colors that dominates the printing industry. High fidelity color printing is most commonly achieved via the use of a “CMYK+2” set of printing materials, such as one of the following: Cyan-Magenta-Yellow-Black-Orange-Green (CMYKOG), Cyan-Light Cyan-Magenta-Light Magenta-Yellow-Black (CcMmYK), Cyan-Light Cyan-Magenta-Pink-Yellow-Black (CcMPYK), Cyan-Magenta-Yellow-Black-Orange-Violet (CMYKOV), or Cyan-Magenta-Yellow-Black-Orange-Blue (CMYKOB) printing materials. The two colors are typically chosen based on the part of the color gamut that is important for a particular output. For example, if an output includes skin tones, CMYKOV is often selected. Similarly, if the output includes a nature scene with grass and trees, CMYKOG is typically selected.
Digital font ends for digital printers typically provide a spot color library, such as a Pantone® color library, that includes specifications for a particular set of printing materials. As such, designated spot colors should be approximately matched using the library. However, many print shop operators and/or customers are not satisfied with the colors created by the default library values. This may result, at least in part, from a known condition affecting digital printers in which the image quality of printed materials drifts over time. In other words, the printers utilized by a print shop operator might not produce the same output color for a specified color mix. Other variables that can cause the need to edit spot colors include the white point or color of a print medium, a coating on the print medium, and/or the like. As such, spot color editing may be required for many, if not all, print jobs that utilize color reproduction.
Printer calibration is an iterative process that requires the print shop operator to compare a test print with a spot color provided by the customer. The editing process can consume considerable time because of the need to make a test print after every edit. As such, print jobs that are highly color critical can require many edit and test cycles to obtain an acceptable match for a spot color or Pantone® color.